Lara
by Phanstarlight
Summary: While walking home one day, Yuri finds a stray cat. Victor and Yuuri eventually allow him to keep her around for a while but only until they can find her a new home. Or so they say. But everyone knows that once you give something a name, you can get very attached to it. Family fluff.


**I have actually had this finished for a while but I just moved away to uni so everything has been a bit hectic lately. But now things have calmed down a little so I decided to publish this now. As always, I don't own any rights to Yuri On Ice or any of its characters. Enjoy!**

Yuri wasn't entirely sure how he was supposed to explain this to Victor and Yuuri.

He had just been walking home from practice when a cat had walked up to him. It was a little black and white cat with the most adorable green eyes Yuri had ever seen. It meowed inquisitively and Yuri couldn't help himself; he reached out and stroked his hand over its ear and down the back of its head. The cat immediately began purring and pushed its head against Yuri's hand. He felt his heart swell in his chest at the way it seemed to trust him without question or consideration. Yuri often found animals to be far better companions than people. As he continued petting it, he looked around its neck for some kind of collar or tag to indicate who it belonged to but he didn't find anything. The lack of identification combined with the cat's matted fur led Yuri to the most probable conclusion.

"You're a stray, aren't you?" Yuri said to the cat, cupping its face in his hands. It predictably meowed in response and Yuri's heart melted just that little bit more. His eyes glanced down at his watch and widened a little when he saw the time. He knew Yuuri and Victor- but especially Yuuri- would start to get worried if he came home from practice too much later that he was meant to. Despite how much he complained about it, he found it quite sweet that the two of them would be so concerned about him. He gave the cat one final stroke over its ears before standing up. But as he took a step forward, the cat followed him. Frowning, he took another two steps forward and the cat continued to match him.

"You can't come home with me" Yuri sighed with a soft smile, bending back down and affectionately scratching under the cat's chin. But as soon as he tried to walk away again, the cat followed him step for step. They continued this for another five minutes before Yuri gave in.

"Okay, fine. You can follow me home if you want. But don't expect the other two to let you stay for very long, especially Victor" Yuri rolled his eyes and the cat meowed softly. The two of them walked back towards Victor's apartment and Yuri hesitated before going inside.

"Do not, whatever you do, attack Maccachin. Then we would both be dead" Yuri pleaded quietly before opening the door. The cat padded inside and Yuri followed, flicking his head around frantically to make sure no one else was home yet. He sighed to himself as the cat wandered into the kitchen, meowing quietly. He pulled out one of Maccachin's bowls from the cupboards- he swore that dog had more food bowls than Victor and Yuuri had plates for themselves- and filled it with water. He placed it down on the floor and the cat immediately came over to it and began lapping it up.

"I should probably think of what to say to Victor and Yuuri when they get back. They're going to be home any minute now" Yuri mumbled, mindlessly stroking his hand down the cat's back. Realising he was still carrying his backpack, Yuri stood and walked towards his room to put it down. Just he was returning to the kitchen, he heard the door click shut.

"Yurio! You here?" Victor called out and Yuri froze. What was he supposed to do? It's not like he could keep the two of them out of the kitchen forever. They were going to discover the cat sooner or later.

"Yurio? What's this?" Victor questioned. Apparently, it was going to be sooner rather than later.

"Um, it's a cat" Yuri answered, peering around the kitchen door to see Victor and Yuuri staring at the cat who was still happily drinking.

"Yes, I can see that. But what is it doing in the kitchen?" Victor replied, his eyes fixed on the cat as it walked over to him and brushed itself against his leg. After a moment of consideration, Yuri realised what he had to do. He stepped fully into the room and looked at Victor with the best puppy dog eyes he could muster.

"I found her on my way back from practice. She doesn't have a collar or anything and from the way she acts, I'm pretty sure she's a stray. I couldn't just leave her out by herself in the cold, with nothing to eat and nowhere to go" Yuri said softly, almost pouting as he waited for Victor's reaction. Silence filled the room for a few seconds as Victor pondered what Yuri had told him.

"Well, I suppose it is getting colder outside this time of year and if she really is a stray and has nowhere to go... we should probably keep her here for a little while" Victor said slowly, his eyes never once leaving the cat as it walked in between him and Yuuri. Yuri allowed himself a small victory smile before looking back at Victor.

"Are you sure?" Yuuri questioned, frowning at Victor's oddly easy acceptance of the situation.

"Only until we can find her a proper home" Victor said, more to Yuri than Yuuri. But Yuri had been expecting Victor to say something along those lines anyway, so he nodded in agreement.

It took a few days for everyone to adjust to having a cat in the apartment. But after those first initial days, they all got quite used to having her around, even Victor, and the weeks started flying by. Before anyone even knew it, she had already been living with them for almost a month. Surprisingly, Maccachin wasn't bothered in the slightest about having a cat around. Occasionally she'd trying to steal some of his food but apart from that, the two of them got on quite well. None of them had received a single inquiry from the missing cat posters they had put up around the area.

One day, Victor and Yuuri arrived home after a gruelling day of practice. They dropped their bags on the floor and Victor shuffled off to the kitchen to make tea as Yuuri flopped down onto the couch. Maccachin greeted Victor as usual and Victor patted him affectionately before returning to the living room, where he found Yuuri with the cat.

"Lara" Yuuri cooed softly as the cat jumped up onto his lap.

"Lara?" Victor questioned, frowning slightly as he put down the cups of tea.

"That's what Yuri named her" Yuuri explained, pointing towards the cat in his lap.

"You can't name her. If you name something, you get too attached to it" Victor huffed, but bent down and began stroking Lara's fur nonetheless.

"Oh, leave it be. Let Yuri have his fun" Yuuri chinned softly. Victor smiled before bending down a little further and kissing Yuuri.

"Don't get Lara involved in your gross displays of affection. I have enough to deal with without you two mentally scarring our cat" Yuri sighed as he walked into the room. Victor raised an eyebrow at Yuri calling her 'their' cat but decided against saying anything as Yuri swiftly picked up Lara from Yuuri's lap and carried her away, thus saving her from further 'gross displays of affection'. Yuuri sighed to himself as he watched Yuri take Lara into his bedroom- well, it was really the spare bedroom but neither himself nor Victor had commented on the slow accumulation of Yuri's possessions inside. Despite the many occasions Yuuri had told him not to take Lara into his room because it was seemingly impossible to get cat fur out of the bed sheets, Yuri seemed to mostly ignore his protests. But suddenly Victor's lips were playfully peppering his cheeks with kisses and Yuuri forgot about the matter entirely.

On the other side of the door, Yuri sighed happily to himself as he watched Lara play with the toy mouse he had gotten for her. It was nice to have a cat around him again. Although Potya was technically his, the cat lived with his grandpa- though maybe if they kept Lara for long enough, Yuri had hoped Yuuri and Victor would let him have Potya with them here too. Yuri still wondered what Lara's story was even a whole month after first meeting her. Why was she walking the streets alone? Was she a runaway? Yuri had thought that at first but from the state she was in when he first found her, it was clear she had been on the streets for a while. And the lack of any identification on her suggested to Yuri that either she had run away a while ago and her owner hadn't bothered tracking her down or she had been abandoned and the original owner had no intention of taking her back at all. The more time passed, the more Yuri began to believe the latter situation. Especially since no one had contacted them even though they had put up missing cat posters all over the area.

It angered Yuri that someone could possibly leave a cat- or any animal, for that matter- out by itself with no intention of helping or caring for it. If they were truly that cruel and negligent, they shouldn't really deserve to own a pet at all. Animals were creatures that needed to be loved, cherished, and looked after, not something you got for Christmas then threw away a few months later because you couldn't be bothered anymore. He took a slow, deep breath in an attempt to calm down. At least he'd managed to save Lara. He just hoped he'd be able to keep her.

* * *

About another week went past and Yuri was beginning to get a little worried. Yuuri and Victor seemed to have closed themselves off from Yuri a little. Mostly, everything was normal and continued as it always had. But then there would be small moments when Yuri would walk into a room unexpectedly or arrive back early from practice. Yuuri and Victor would be talking in quiet, hushed tones and would instantly fall silent as soon as Yuri entered the room. Considering the two older skaters were usually very open with everyone around them- sometimes a little too open- this behaviour made Yuri more than a little concerned. At first, he thought they were just messing with him. Maybe some strange scheme they dreamed up in an attempt to get Yuri to admit that he actually enjoyed their company and missed them if they closed themselves off. But the longer it went on, the more worried Yuri got. What if something was actually wrong? But surely, if something was wrong then they would have told Yuri by now. So, maybe they were hiding something from him? But what, and why? Yuri's mind raced through everything he could think of, none of it making any sense. Until he thought of Lara. Maybe that was it. Victor had said keeping her was only a temporary measure. And since no one had come forward to claim her, maybe it was time for her to move on. That's when Yuri became convinced about what Victor and Yuuri were hiding- they were planning to take Lara away. They weren't cruel enough to put her back out on the streets, not that Yuri would have let them anyway. So they were probably planning to take her to an animal shelter or something. But that still didn't make it any less upsetting. He had grown rather attached to Lara in the relatively short time he had known her. He thought Victor and Yuuri felt the same, but clearly not. Yuri continued panicking about it all for another two days before finally giving in and deciding to confront the other two about it. If they were planning to take Lara away from him, they should at least have to decency to tell him and let him be involved in the process. He was the one who found her, after all.

Yuri decided to do this once they all got home from practice a few days later. He had been avoiding them more than usual and he was pretty sure Victor had noticed. Which meant as soon as they got back and Yuri made a beeline for Lara, Victor cautiously walked over to him.

"Is everything alright, Yurio?" Victor questioned, smiling down at the younger skater.

"You tell me" Yuri huffed, not looking up at him.

"It's just... you've seemed a little distant from us recently" Victor explained, wringing his hands nervously.

"Well, it's your fault anyway" Yuri snapped. He instantly regretted saying that as soon as he saw the hurt look on Victor's face but he still couldn't bring himself to apologise. What he said hadn't been entirely a lie.

"What's Victor's fault?" Yuuri teased lightly, walking over to them and wrapping an arm around Victor's waist.

"Urgh, it's both of you" Yuri sighed in frustration.

"Oh dear, what have we done now? Was it because we made you watch us practise our lifts?" Yuuri asked worriedly.

"Was it because I kept trying to kiss Yuuri at the store the other day?" Victor continued, knowing how much Yuri hated Victor and Yuuri's public displays of affection.

"Or was it-?" Yuuri began, trying to think of other things he and Victor had done that may have annoyed Yuri.

"Oh my God, I can't believe you two!" Yuri cut them both off, standing up and glaring at them "How could you not know what I'm talking about?"

Victor and Yuuri stared at him blankly as Yuri grew more and more offended by the second. Finally, Yuri broke.

"I know what you two have been planning. All the secret whispered conversations. But you could have at least had the courtesy to tell me and not make me figure it out for myself before it was too late"

"Figure what out?" Victor asked, genuinely confused.

"You're going to get rid of Lara!" Yuri yelled, glaring Victor down. Silence followed Yuri's accusation as Victor and Yuuri stared at him. Suddenly, Yuuri began giggling quietly.

"What?!" Yuri yelled louder than he really meant to, but now he was very confused and still a little angry.

"That's not what we were planning at all" Yuuri explained, smiling softly at Yuri's frowning face.

"But..." Yuri tried to say but couldn't find the words.

"We were getting ready to keep her, permanently" Victor said, holding back a smirk at Yuri's puzzled expression.

"Really?" Yuri asked quietly, his heart simultaneously filling with hope and guilt.

"Of course, what else would we do?" Yuuri rolled his eyes playfully.

"And I'm sure Potya would get along with her as well" Victor smiled as Yuri's eyes lit up.

"You mean-?" Yuri beamed as Victor nodded at him.

"Thank you!" Yuri laughed, pulling a very surprised Victor and Yuuri into a hug.

"You're very welcome" Victor sighed happily, wrapping his arms around Yuri and Yuuri.

Over the next week, the three of them began buying more toys and food for Lara as well as preparing the apartment for Potya's arrival. Yuri had excitedly called his grandfather as soon as he knew he could have Potya with him who, of course, had instantly agreed to the idea. He sent the cat over as soon as he could and Yuri had to chuckle to himself at the mental image of Potya being stuck in a cage on a plane. As much as he didn't want to admit it, Yuri did shed a few tears when he saw Potya again after all their time apart. As soon as Potya arrived, Yuri instantly introduced the two cats before playing with them on the living room floor. Yuuri and Victor watched him from the doorway, completely in his element.

"I'm glad we did this" Yuuri smiled, resting his head on Victor's shoulder.

"So am I" Victor nudged Yuuri playfully. He had never considered himself the type of person who would deal well with having a family. But as he looked from his fiancé to Yuri giggling and playing with their two new cats and Maccachin wagging his tail happily beside him, he decided that assumption may not have been entirely true.


End file.
